hooray there's a new fleet foxes vid

Seattle folk-rock sensations, Fleet Foxes, released a new video this week. The clip for "Grown Ocean" gets the 1970s-documentary treatment and they rock it.

You can catch Fleet Foxes in Vancouver next month. They're performing live at the Vogue Theatre on April 29 and 30. The band's second album, Helplessness Blues, is out May 3 on Sub Pop.

so radiohead has a newspaper huh?

Apparently so... and it’s called The Universal Sigh. Once again showing how freakin cool and ahead of the pack they are, the free newspaper is due to be released tomorrow according to Stereogum, which just so happens to be the same day their new album, The King of Limbs, drops.

Not surprisingly, the paper has already leaked online. Full of stories, illustrations and opinion articles, if you want to have a geezer a whole couple of hours early (cause I'm a little slow on the uptake), download the PDF here! I'll be super impressed if a hard copy makes it to the Coast so let me know if anyone gets their hands on one!

vancouver. vancouver.

Be online at 10am and then make a dash to the 10:20am ferry 

My Morning Jacket

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

Don't miss tickets to see those wacky rockers, My Morning Jacket, when they go on sale at 10am today through Live Nation. The Kentucky band is a must-see live act, with their reverb-soaked sound and blend of alternative, alt country, folk and psychedelic rock. Just as entertaining are their fans who are known for turning up decked in everything from vintage suits and gowns to homemade robot, whale and penguin costumes.

My Morning Jacket will be playing songs from their new album Circuital and to celebrate they're offering free downloads on their website from their live gig at New York's Terminal 5 this past October and finishing with a song from the album on 12th April. 

WE: Vancouver—12 Manifestos for the City

Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th March, 10am to 5pm

Vancouver Art Gallery

Once you've snapped up your My Morning Jacket tix, jump on board the boat to Vancouver and check out local Vancouver artist and clothing designer, Natalie Purschwitz, who will be making bags out of objects that the public brings her at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby Street) this weekend from 10am to 5pm I can't wait to see what she does with the hundreds of postcards I never got around to writing on... poor girl doesn't know what she's in for!

Purschwitz owns a women's clothing line under the label Hunt & Gather. Not to mention she also recently completed a year-long project called Makeshift, where she made every item that she wore, including shoes, socks, underwear, bathing suits, and coats, in order to examine the connections between clothing, making, and living.

Makeshift is currently one of the projects on display in the WE: Vancouver—12 Manifestos for the City exhibition at the VAG, which spotlights the practices, actions, and ideas that shape the city.

As an extension of the exhibit, Purschwitz will be on-hand in the gallery forecourt making bags for people who bring her items on a first-come, first-serve basis. There will be a sign-up sheet and Purschwitz will continue to take objects until her roster is full for the day. This is one ingenious gal.

Image credits:  blogs.courant.com, Huntandgather.ca

gary comeau has a hat to make the mad hatter jealous

and he sure knows how to play the fiddle

Gary Comeau and the Voodoo Allstars 
Fri 11 March, 8:00pm & Sun 13 March, 2:00pm
Garden Bay Pub, Sunshine Coast, BC

Gary Comeau and the Voodoo Allstars are making the Garden Bay Pub their home this weekend so the neighbours better get ready for some seriously high energy, New Orleans-style rockin roots and blues. 

With performances on Friday night at 8pm and Sunday afternoon at 2pm there is no excuse to miss this band. Why not make a weekend of it and stay at one of the Coast's many great B&Bs?!

Their gig at the Islands Folk Festival was described as "Take the rhythm of the Maritime Acadian music, season well with Louisiana zydeco blues, add a twist of Highway 61 era Dylan, serve it up with great showmanship, and you’ve got a potent musical cocktail that will have your head spinning and your feet dancing!"

Any mention of Dylan is enough to drag me there. But what I'm really keen to see is whether he bears any resemblence to Mr Bean? Cause he kinda has that eyebrow thing going on in the pictures... no???

For details on the band see Garycomeau.net - Oops, almost forgot to mention that entry is FREE!

Image credits: Cnv.org, flickr.com, flickr.com, Falconettis.com
 

the name of the band is the black keys. the day of the concert is june 27.

The Black Keys

Deer Lake Park, Burnaby, BC

The boyfriend will never hear the end of it - we missed them at the Orpheum, we missed them at the Commodore, we missed them at every other gig before they became those big Grammy Award winning artists, and now we're going to have to do the crazy Summer concert thing and go nuts with thousands of others when The Black Keys hit the stage at Deer Lake Park on the 27th June.

The unassuming white boys out of Akron Ohio are kicking off their Canadian tour with their Vancouver show, in support of that award-winning album - that album that is called Brothers. It should be one heck of a concert with Cage the Elephant as the opening act.

The Georgia Straight is doing another one of their special ticket pre-sales from 10am to 10pm today (Friday 25 February). If you miss that, tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday 26 Feb and are priced at $45 (plus service fees) from Live Nation.

Image credit: ninebullets.net, nygroove.blogspot.com

fingerwaves + sunday

Company B Jazz Band

Sunday 20 Feb, 2:00pm, Pender Harbour School of Music, Madeira Park
Presented By Pender Harbour Music Society

It's official, the Jazz Age is back! Boardwalk Empire, finger waves on the runway and now the sassy Company B Jazz Band is in town. The 6-piece group will be swinging Pender Harbour on Sunday with their repertoire of 1920s to 1940s classics inspired by The Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, and more. Tix are $20 and can be bought from John Henry's (Garden Bay), Harbour Insurance (Madeira Park), Visitors Centre (Sechelt) and Gaia's Fair Trade (Gibsons). Charleston anyone?!

Here are some pics from the Prada Spring 2011 collection and the Dior runway show to give you the vibe.

Images: myspace.com/companybband, fashiongonerogue.com

the girl knows how to shake a red tambourine

H'sao

Fri 18 Feb, Roberts Creek Hall, 9:00pm

Wanna bop tonight? Six-piece Montreal afropop group H’Sao are bound to turn the Roberts Creek Hall into a dance party with their high energy mix of Chadian traditional music, beatboxing and pop. The band draws influences from gospel, traditional African music, soul and R&B but it's their masterful A Capella singing, oozing rhythm and stunning dance moves that set them apart on the world music stage. Dancer and singer Taroum is known for performing barefoot in a sparkling blue onesie while shaking a red star tambourine - let's hope the Winter chill doesn't put her off bringing some sparkle to the Coast!  

It only costs 20 bucks for an unmissable night and tickets can be bought at Gaia's Fair Trade and Gifts in Gibsons, MELOmania in Roberts Creek and Strait Music in Sechelt.

See the H'sao website for the low down.

Images: elbo.ws, thescope.ca, signalblog.ca

saturday's a laugh

Sometimes we just need to have a good laugh - whether it's at ourselves, or at someone else's expense. Tonight should offer some side-stitch funny moments as long as you're prepared to drag yourself off the couch. And really, there's no excuse cause both Gibsons and Sechelt are putting on the shows.

The totally cheesey Neil Diamond wannabe 'Nearly Neil' is getting his groove-on on stage at the Lighthouse Pub in Sechelt at 9pm. You gotta love a sparkly night out with Neil belting out his classics, Sweet Caroline and Cherry. It's the kind of thing that small towns excel at. There's no nightclub on the lower Sunshine Coast, but we DO have Nearly Neil who comes our way every now and again to save us from the Winter blues. The Lighthouse also has some great pub nosh on the menu - potato skins, chicken wings, and some totally indulgent burgers. So start fine-tuning your disco moves and bring them out with you tonight - the wackier they are, the more you'll giggle! The show costs $12 and is usually a sell-out.

For those in Gibsons who think the 25 minute drive to Sechelt is just too arduous, then try the laugh-out-loud, politically incorrect Yuk Yuk's stand up comedy show at Gibsons Cinema. Totally shameless about taking a dig at everyone and everything - ethnicity, lifestyle and political beliefs are all fair game during this 2-hour skit. Does anyone feel another Ricky Gervais Golden Globes moment coming on? Just be prepared to roll with the punches! Ticket prices range from $18 to $25 and the show is on at 8pm.

white stripes eulogy

The White Stripes have stabbed a knife in the heart of music lovers everywhere with the announcement today that the band is breaking up. Damn it!

They broke the news on their website Whitestripes.com which included the statement, "The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band have it stay that way.”

Thankfully for all those fans who had them on their 'must see before they die list' we have their youtube channel to get us through the lonely years ahead. And today had such promise before this news...

Image: Annie Leibovitz

7 great things about today

It's Groundhog Day! And Punxsutawney Phil, Nova Scotia's Shubenacade Sam and Ontario's Wiarton Willie have all predicted Spring! Hooray!

Listen up! San Fran rockers the Dodo's have given the world a sneak peak at their new album No Color. You can stream their song, "Black Night" here. They're playing at the Rickshaw in Vancouver on 31 March so get your tickets!

James Joyce and Farrah Fawcett both share a birthday. And it's just been announced that the red swimming suit and poster that Farrah made famous are being donated to the Smithsonian along with a bunch of her scripts from the first season of Charlie's Angels.

It's time to make some room on those credit cards again because UK band, the Klaxons, and Canada's Indie Rocker's, Tokyo Police club, are both playing in Vancouver in April. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and Friday so check out the Georgia Straight for information and pre-sale deets.

Yes, it's hump day and the weekend is just that little bit closer...

Dodo's photo by Mark Holthusen

two door cinema club

So the first of my faves from the Coachella line-up has announced they'll be playing Vancouver. Even better for us is that we'll be getting a preview of the band's set list before they head South for the festival.

The Northern Irish pop-rock trio will be playing at the Venue on April 11. You couldn't pick a better joint for the gig. They'll be rocking it!

The band will be showcasing tunes from their debut album, Tourist History, which mixes pop and rock with elements of electronica and Afro-beats.

Tickets for Two Door Cinema Club are priced at $18.00 (plus service fees) and go on sale this Friday (January 28), 10 a.m, at Livenation.com, but check out Straight.com for details of their presale today (Thursday Jan 27)  from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

music: pay off your credit cards kids...

There are some seriously good gigs coming to town!

2011 looked like it was starting slowly and I was beginning to get nostalgic for 2010 when the Editors and the Cribs rocked Vancouver, but thankfully a bunch of seriously good concerts have just been announced.

The Dodos, Thursday 31st March

The Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver

Without doubt the best gig I caught in 2009, and that includes a 3 day stint at Lollapalooza. This twosome rock! I have no idea how they can produce the sounds they do, but they are phenomenal live. I missed them when they played at Rifflandia last year so I'm super excited that they're heading our way again. If you check out their website dodos.net you can download a free track from their new album and catch a video of them in studio. Bring on March!

The Foals - Sunday 10th April

The Commodore, Vancouver

The Georgia Straight and Live Nation have just announced they're bringing the Foals to town in April. The group will be showcasing tunes from their latest album, Total Life Forever, which won album of the year at the 2010 Mercury Music Awards. Tickets for the Foals are priced at $21.50 (plus service fees) and go on sale this Friday (January 21), 10 a.m at livenation.com, but if you check out Straight.com you can take advantage of their presale which is on now (Thursday), from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Robert Plant, Sunday 17th April

Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver

I think I'm going to be getting trigger happy on Friday with Live Nation also announcing that tickets to legendary rocker, Robert Plant will also go on sale tomorrow, 21st January. Plant will bring his Americana group the Band of Joy to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 17. The six-piece band, which features vocalist Patti Griffin and guitarist-vocalist Buddy Miller, will be performing tunes from its self-titled debut album, which includes the singles "Angel Dance" and "Can't Buy Me Love".

Tickets for Robert Plant and Band of Joy are priced at $115, $89.50, and $69.50 (plus service charges), and are available at livenation.com

The Pixies, Tuesday 3rd May

The Orpheum, Vancouver

The Pixies are bringing their “Dolittle Tour” to 13 Canadian cities this spring, their most extensive Canadian tour ever. Apparently they've done the North American tour to death, but as someone who only really started appreciating Frank Black 2 years ago, I can't wait.

For the Doolittle tour, the band will be performing all of the songs from their 1989 classic Doolittle and its related B-sides, “Weird at My School,” “Dancing the Manta Ray,” and “Bailey’s Walk”. An imaginative cinematic production has been created for the tour. Designed by long-time Pixies lighting designer Myles Mangino and designer Paul Normandale, the set features four huge, undulating, eyeball-like spheres flown just below the lighting rig and are part of the concert’s light show. Filmmakers Judy Jacobs, Tom Winkler, Brent Felix and Melinda Tupling were brought on board to create 11 films especially for the production. The films are projected onto a massive backdrop video screen to accompany 12 of the 21 songs that comprise the show.

Again, starting tomorrow, a limited number of tickets for the tour dates will be available through a special presale on pixiesmusic.com. In addition, all pre-sale purchases will include a “download taster” of live tracks from the “Doolittle” show. The public on-sale will kick off next Friday, January 28 – log onto pixiesmusic.com for all details. Lock in the date.

The Kills, Sunday 8th May

The Commodore, Vancouver

Never seem 'em. Probably should. Anglo-American indie garage-rock duo the Kills will play the Commodore on May 8. The group—composed of American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince—will perform tunes from its latest album, Blood Pressures, with guests Cold Cave and the Entrance Band.

Got RSI yet? Now you will. You guessed it, tickets for the Kills are priced at $25 (plus service fees) and go on sale this Friday (January 21), 10 a.m., at livenation.com, but Straight.com readers are again being offered advantage presale today from 10am to 10pm. Take advantage of it by visiting their site for details.

Coachella, Friday 15th to Sunday 17th April

Empire Polo Field, Indio, CA

The Coachella lineup for this year’s festival has just been released, and so far I'm loving what I see. Besides headliners like Arcade Fire and The Strokes, they’ve also got other favorites like Two Door Cinema Club, Menomena, Elbow and Canadian group, Broken Social Scene. 

It all goes down April 15-17 in California, so that means we need to start planning…now. It's a better Easter treat than chocolate bunnies! Click here for more information and to buy tickets! And watch out for some of their line-up doing side shows in Vancouver....

Image Sources: last.fm, straight.com, coachella.com, deadjournalist.com

off coast: what's on...

If you're craving a city fix this week, here are some highlights of what's happening nearby-ish.

Vancouver

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Tuesday 18 January to Sunday 6 February, 2011

Various Vancouver Venues

The seventh annual international performing arts festival kicks off this week at various venues around Vancouver. This year's PuSh features performances by the Belgian artist collective Berlin, London-based theatre artist Peter Reder, Paris-based visual artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda, Swiss theatre-dance-music ensemble Company Drift, Montreal performance artist Julie Andrée T., Australian physical-theatre company Circa, and Vancouver's MovEnt, Neworld Theatre, Leaky Heaven Circus, Theatre Replacement, and Music on Main PLUS lots more... See http://www.pushfestival.ca/ for more information. Reviews on the Aussie act, Circa, sound great! 

First Weekend Club screening of Casino Jack

Thursday 20 January, 2011

District 319 (319 Main Street)

The First Weekend Club is an across the country group dedicated to the promotion and showing of Canadian films. Their upcoming Canada Screens (Vancouver) preview is Kevin Spacey's new movie Casino Jack which opens in theatres on 28 January. Two-time Academy Award winner Spacey plays the role of Jack Abramoff in late director George Hickenlooper's crime comedy that's based on real-life events. Jack, a Washington lobbyist, takes on a set of white collar crimes with business partner Michael (Barry Pepper). However, the two find themselves in over their heads when they become entangled in the mafia's murders and scandals.

Casino Jack also stars Jon Lovitz, Kelly Preston, and Canadian actors Graham Greene and Rachelle Lefevre of Twilight fame. The movie was written by Canadian screenwriter Norman Snider, and shot mainly in Toronto, Hamilton, and Welland, Ontario.

The First Weekend Club screening is $18 and includes a pre-show wine reception with live music at 6:30 p.m. In addition, a dinner and movie combo is offered with Boneta Restaurant (1 West Cordova Street), where diners will receive 15 percent off their meal prior to the movie screening. Advance ticket purchases are recommended. Visit the First Weekend Club website for more details or call 1-604-983-5373.

Vancouver Motorcycle Show
Thursday 20 January to Sunday 23 January, 2011

Tradex Trade & Exhibition Centre (1190 Cornell St., Abbotsford)

Preview the latest in motorcycle innovation from industry leaders Ducati, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Victory, Polaris, KTM, Hyosung, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki.

Tix $13/8 (plus service charges and fees) at www.vancouvermotorcycleshow.ca/

Seattle

30 Seconds to Mars

Tuesday 18 January 2011

The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine Street, Seattle

I'm not sure where I've been but somewhere along the line, Jared Leto's band, 30 Seconds to Mars which he formed with his brother Shannon, has gone from being trashed by the critics to Last.fm's 7th best band in 2011, ahead of The National. Who would have thought this bit of eye candy was capable of producing good tunes. But hey, even if they're rubbish you'll get an hour and a half to lust over Jared. For ticket details see http://www.stgpresents.org/

Sources: www.firstweekendclub.ca, Last.fm, www.pushfestival.ca, The Georgia Straight, www.vancouvermotorcycleshow.ca

music + photos

Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra @ the Jordao PhotoGraphic Gallery

Sun 16 & Mon 17 Jan, 8pm

#2 - 626 Shaw Rd, Gibsons

I've had my eye on the jordao.ca website for awhile now, always interested to see what kind of music/gallery combo Raquel Fors is putting together, even though I haven't managed to get to one of their events yet. I'm hoping that will all change this weekend when they've got Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra, the latin sounding gypsy/ska/folk/roots/indie band from Victoria playing to a backdrop of Raquel's latest photo exhibition, To The Bone. The gallery is located in the industrial area of upper Gibsons, not exactly the most attractive part of town, but if they can capitalize on the urban, grungy feel then this could be the coolest art + music series to hit the Coast in 2011. For more information on TMO, check out their myspace page here. Tix are $10 at Gaia's Fair Trade in Gibsons and MELOmania in Roberts Creek.

Image Source: myspace.com/tequilamock

music: get your gig fix this weekend

Carnival Era come to Lina's Lounge Saturday Night (Jan 15, 8:00pm)

Hastings and Crawford of Carnival Era have been playing up a storm on the Sunshine Coast over the past few months. I caught their gig at Lina's awhile back but have never seen them perform with the rest of the Carnival Era gang. These Indie darlings play an original score and Chelsea Crawford's vocals are captivating. Reservations recommended  http://linaslounge.com/

Sunday Blues Jam with Peter van Deursen at Garden Bay Pub Sunday (Jan 16, 1:00pm - 5:00pm)

I could think of worse ways to hide from the rain and/or snow this Sunday. The Garden Bay Pub is hosting a Blues Jam featuring Peter van Deursen on Hammond B3 Organ, legendary drummer Duris Maxwell, and on November 22, Juno Award winning bluesman Tim Hearsey on guitar and vocals. Music starts at 2:00 PM. Admission is free, and I hear the joint gets jumping!